Six Flags Quiddiya

[Bowser]

This is where I am, my birthday in late October so would be a nice treat. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to do a TPWW and go with Pegasus Airlines for a long haul trip even though they are half the price of BA/Qatar.

My calculations put a decent hotel at £200 for 3 nights, plus £500 for a non-Pegasus flight on Qatar via Doha.

My head is telling me to go later in the year too but my heart is saying go asap, mainly due to fear of Falcon spiting!

I can't imagine we'll see a Hyperia as if there is a problem they have the means to get things fixed rapidly.... but equally it's such an unprecedented ride that if an unexpected issue occurs it could be out of their control, just look at the problems Ferrari World has had.

 

[dave___]

My head is telling me to go later in the year too but my heart is saying go asap, mainly due to fear of Falcon spiting!

I can't imagine we'll see a Hyperia as if there is a problem they have the means to get things fixed rapidly.... but equally it's such an unprecedented ride that if an unexpected issue occurs it could be out of their control, just look at the problems Ferrari World has had.

Infinite money glitch though, no way on earth would KSA let something so high profile dent their already fragile reputation. Probably have the CEO of Intamin on speed dial the first time they get a warning light on the control panel

In terms of visits if you don’t go pretty sharpish you’re going to hit the desert summer which will be unpleasant even on evening hours. At least from autumn it will start to cool down a tad.

 

[Bowser]

Infinite money glitch though, no way on earth would KSA let something so high profile dent their already fragile reputation. Probably have the CEO of Intamin on speed dial the first time they get a warning light on the control panel

In terms of visits if you don’t go pretty sharpish you’re going to hit the desert summer which will be unpleasant even on evening hours. At least from autumn it will start to cool down a tad.

I like hot weather but yes, October to April is probably the limit.

Will be interesting to see how the park fares in the summer or if it even opens.

 

[Benjsh]

Might save you money though, only 1 fare means you can buy more tat for Christmas presents or get a fast pass.

I’ve jus seen a video of Spitfire and it looks a bit lacklustre, biggest/tallest inversion but again to me it’s just a one-hit wonder. Why can’t they put a couple of corkscrews or something at the end to help scrub the speed instead of just a brake run and banked turn. Spitfires were famed for doing all kinds of acrobatics so make the ride reflect that..

The reviews of Spitfire are all pretty solid though. Think it might be a lot lot better on ride than watching a POV. It is very short though I will grant you.

Regarding the solo trip.....yeah definitely a lot cheaper thats for sure. Will have to weigh up all the options closer to the time. If it makes sense money wise then I will probably just book it for October half term.

 

[Zeock]

I’d love to know; which coaster or ride other than Falcon’s Flight do people think looks most impressive (or in the case of anyone who’s been, is most impressive)? With everyone getting swept up in the Falcon’s Flight hype, it’s easy to forget that there are a good few other coasters in this park!

Personally, I think Iron Rattler looks amazing; even if I haven’t yet ridden a new Vekoma thrill coaster, new Vekoma are evidently on fire, and Iron Rattler looks to have an excellent layout and also be on a scale that Vekoma have never built at before!

I also think Colossus looks brilliant; I personally absolutely love a GCI, and it looks like a nice big one with good pacing and airtime!

Spitfire looks very good as well, but I’m not sure it appeals to me quite as much as the two above and Falcon’s. The swing launch looks like good fun, and almost gives me miniature Top Thrill 2 VIBES, but I’m not sure that I’ll enjoy an inverted top hat on that style of layout as much as a regular top hat.

For an opening day park, this might well have one of the most impressive coaster lineups I’ve seen! While Falcon’s is of course the crown jewel, it looks like the park has quite a well-rounded coaster lineup with plenty to flesh it out beyond Falcon’s; I feel like Iron Rattler, Colossus and Spitfire would all be worthy headline draws in their own right in most parks in the world!

Iron Rattler's layout looks superb to me.

 

[dave___]

Other than this forum's poster earlier on has anyone seen any sources of unbiased/touristy trip reviews for the park as yet? I figure it's had a week to open now so the dust might be settling a little bit.

Everyone in the vlogosphere that I can find for a review seems to be glazing the park and I am trying to work out if it's genuine praise or.. other.

 

[Skyscraper]

Here's a cool backwards-facing POV for Falcon's Flight. I think this is the most interesting view of the coaster yet, as it really shows the true scale of it and just how long the launch up the cliff is. It also gives a good view of the huge fans that are mounted under both sides of the station platforms, whose job it is to cool the wheels down after each epic run.


From: https://youtu.be/J54WKu2nU6o?si=Pqo28y-_t4uqA4uq

From Coaster Studios YT

 

[Bowser]

Other than this forum's poster earlier on has anyone seen any sources of unbiased/touristy trip reviews for the park as yet? I figure it's had a week to open now so the dust might be settling a little bit.

Everyone in the vlogosphere that I can find for a review seems to be glazing the park and I am trying to work out if it's genuine praise or.. other.

The only gripes I’ve seen are about the queue times and ops. There was a Japanese account saying Falcon was 180min wait all day yesterday.

 

[gclough79]

Here's a cool backwards-facing POV for Falcon's Flight. I think this is the most interesting view of the coaster yet, which really shows the true scale of the coaster and just how long the launch up the cliff is. It also gives a good view of the huge fans that are mounted under both sides of the station platforms, whose job it is to cool the wheels down after each epic run.


From: https://youtu.be/J54WKu2nU6o?si=Pqo28y-_t4uqA4uq

From Coaster Studios YT

This is the first video I've seen that definitely gives you a sense of the speed and scale when you actually ride it.

I remember when I first arrived at SFQC my initial impression was that the pictures don't even come close to giving justice to the absolute enormity of it, the sense of height hanging off the cliff and going over the camelback is absolutely immense when you're actually on the ride, its very intimidating in person.

There's also this really surreal moment that I didn't actually appreciate till my 3rd or 4th ride when you're on the top of the cliff (especially when it gets dark) it's incredibly isolating cause you realise that you've been taken entirely out of the park by some distance and that you're not on top of some man made structure but an actual physical enormous mountain which you're about to drop off vertically. You look up at the park in the distance and you see the first drop and station which now look tiny...it goes incredibly quiet as you hang, the noise of the park and people are just barely audible in the distance and then you drop.

One of the things I didn't actually like was the tunnel as it sort of takes away from the visual experience of dropping off the mountain and blinds your senses a little, it doesn't really add anything if that makes sense. It sort of looks a bit ugly and isn't themed inside at all...I'd of preferred to just drop into the darkness and appreciating all that sense of scale dropping off mother natures finest and speeding down the side of a mountain.

The only gripes I’ve seen are about the queue times and ops. There was a Japanese account saying Falcon was 180min wait all day yesterday.

Honestly fastpass is like an extra £50 and you'll not wait longer than 10 minutes, if you're travelling all the way from Japan just cough up the extra money.

 

[dave___]

Honestly fastpass is like an extra £50 and you'll not wait longer than 10 minutes, if you're travelling all the way from Japan just cough up the extra money.

Definitely in my budget, I'm not going halfway round the world to stand in a queue for 4 hours when the fastpass is so relatively cheap. Be interesting to see when Aquarabia opens if they offer any kind of package deals for there and Six Flags; feels like it would be stupid not to.

Who did you fly with out of curiosity.

 

[gclough79]

Definitely in my budget, I'm not going halfway round the world to stand in a queue for 4 hours when the fastpass is so relatively cheap. Be interesting to see when Aquarabia opens if they offer any kind of package deals for there and Six Flags; feels like it would be stupid not to.

Who did you fly with out of curiosity.

I flew with British Airways mate

 

[Bowser]

I flew with British Airways mate

TPWW said they paid £80 for a visa, is that correct? Or they only needed that as they were working?

 

[gclough79]

TPWW said they paid £80 for a visa, is that correct? Or they only needed that as they were working

Yes that's correct, it's called an E-Visa and was £80 which I think everybody has to pay regardless of you going there to work or not...it works similar to the way an ESTA would work if you visited the USA.

Edit: Although I did bump into a guy in the park (also from UK) who said he'd gotten some free temporary visa that only lasts 4 days or something, I'll be honest I didn't look into it but after a quick Google now it appears it does exist which means I wasted 80 quid

 

[dave___]

Yes that's correct, it's called an E-Visa and was £80 which I think everybody has to pay regardless of you going there to work or not...it works similar to the way an ESTA would work if you visited the USA.

Edit: Although I did bump into a guy in the park (also from UK) who said he'd gotten some free temporary visa that only lasts 4 days or something, I'll be honest I didn't look into it but after a quick Google now it appears it does exist which means I wasted 80 quid

UK passport holders can get a visa waiver for £33 for a single visit I believe. Not sure why it’s specifically only the UK that can get the waiver though

You can get a free 96 hour transit visa but I’m not sure I’d risk that as I’d have a hard time convincing them that I was going to Riyadh on my journey from Manchester to Manchester

 

[Bowser]

Yes that's correct, it's called an E-Visa and was £80 which I think everybody has to pay regardless of you going there to work or not...it works similar to the way an ESTA would work if you visited the USA.

Edit: Although I did bump into a guy in the park (also from UK) who said he'd gotten some free temporary visa that only lasts 4 days or something, I'll be honest I didn't look into it but after a quick Google now it appears it does exist which means I wasted 80 quid

The £80 version lasts for a year so you only need to go back twice more to get value

 

[IDB]

UK passport holders can get a visa waiver for £33 for a single visit I believe. Not sure why it’s specifically only the UK that can get the waiver though

You can get a free 96 hour transit visa but I’m not sure I’d risk that as I’d have a hard time convincing them that I was going to Riyadh on my journey from Manchester to Manchester

I can imagine Saudi Border Force have heard the response “to ride a really big rollercoaster” a few times in the past week when asking arriving visitors “what’s the purpose of your visit?”

 

[dave___]

I can imagine Saudi Border Force have heard the response “to ride a really big rollercoaster” a few times in the past week when asking arriving visitors “what’s the purpose of your visit?”

I do wonder how the park will handle all the various Muslim holidays. I assume it will be closed for Eid but maybe later opening time during Ramadan so everyone can do their praying and breaking fast and whatnot.

I wonder if numbers will be impacted during Hajj too even though everyone doing that has to go through Jeddah on special visas. I reckon Riyadh will still be absolutely packed at that time of year

 

[Bowser]

The TPWW full review is up. Some interesting notes:

- Park was dead day 2. Iron Rattler was going round half empty. Probably bodes well for term time visitors!
- He thinks Iron Rattler is better than any UK coaster. Not the highest bar but still.
- Trackless dark ride is by the makers of Symbolica and looks of a similar standard.
- Falcon had 2-3 hours downtime each day.
- Colossus has a great layout but trains are awful. I don’t really understand the gripe, something about being pinned in…
- Doesn’t look like the park has much if any expansion space

Overall he said it was one of the best parks in the world which he wasn’t expecting. Better than any other park in the region in terms of rides, theming, shops etc and Falcon is his new #1 coaster for anyone keeping track.

 

[Skyscraper]

Colossus has a great layout but trains are awful. I don’t really understand the gripe, something about being pinned in…

Colossus uses GCI's new Infinity Flyer trains, and it sounds like the restraints lock tighter or something, resulting in "stapling" every time.

 

[Zeock]

The TPWW full review is up. Some interesting notes:

- Park was dead day 2. Iron Rattler was going round half empty. Probably bodes well for term time visitors!
- He thinks Iron Rattler is better than any UK coaster. Not the highest bar but still.
- Trackless dark ride is by the makers of Symbolica and looks of a similar standard.
- Falcon had 2-3 hours downtime each day.
- Colossus has a great layout but trains are awful. I don’t really understand the gripe, something about being pinned in…
- Doesn’t look like the park has much if any expansion space

Overall he said it was one of the best parks in the world which he wasn’t expecting. Better than any other park in the region in terms of rides, theming, shops etc and Falcon is his new #1 coaster for anyone keeping track.

Assuming that these are his true thoughts, it's interesting that he rates Falcon's Flight so highly, as its layout, although visually impressive, does not seem as polished as those of many other highly-rated rides, including those from Intamin themselves.